Isaiah 36:12

"Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don’t speak to us in the Jews’ language in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”"

Key Reflection

In Isaiah 36:12, Rabshakeh, an Assyrian official, is speaking to the Jewish leaders Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah in Hebrew, which is the common language of the people on the wall who can overhear. Recognizing this, these officials request that Rabshakeh switch to Aramaic, a more formal and diplomatic language, so their conversation remains private from the surrounding crowd. This context highlights the political and linguistic dynamics at play during the Assyrian invasion, where language choice could influence the perception of authority and legitimacy in communication between conquerors and conquered.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee? -To Hezekiah, and to you alone. A part of my purpose is to address the people, to induce them to leave Hezekiah, and to offer no resistance to the Assyrian. To the men that sit on the wall ... -The meaning of this is, that the inhabitants of the city, if they do not surrender, will be subjected to the severest evils of famine. If they did not surrender, it was the purpose of the Assyrian to lay siege to the city, and to reduce it. But it was often the work of years to reduce and take a city. Nebuchadnezzar spent thirteen years before Tyre, and the Greeks employed ten in reducing ancient Troy.

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